Media Medium
26 September 2001

KEITH GRAVES

Keith Graves is a stubborn and steady Taurean. With his dogged
reliability and authoritative air, Sky's ever-present
Washington correspondent is ideally suited to
covering the US crisis

Keith Graves, Sky News correspondent for Washington, has been on
screen so often, covering the U.S. crisis, that he seems to be
working round the clock. How does he keep going? An indefatigable
Taurean Bull (May 5 1941), his horoscope is exceptional for its
huge stack of Taurus planets. No less than seven of his ten
planets are in this earthy sign, noted for its physical stamina,
its voice of authority and its dogged reliability. Just think of
the Queen, and you've got Taurus. At its best, the astrology
books tell us, the Bull is "determined, persistent and enduring,
executive, practical, rather conservative, and at times a little
dogmatic and obstinate. There is a tendency to become more
authoritative, quiet, reserved, firm and inflexible as your life
advances" (Alan Leo, Key To Your Own Nativity). Multiply this by
seven, add a pinch of plain pig-headed stubbornness, and you get
the measure of Keith Graves.

But steady Taureans are definitely the guys you want around when
there's a war on, even if, historically, they have sometimes
provoked them. The sign boasts a long line of great dictators -
Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot, Sadam - but in its more humanitarian
mode, it is also a great provider. Wealth-loving Taureans may
live well but they also save for a rainy day, and we can expect
Graves to be a lover of good food and good money, with lots of
little nest eggs in all sorts of currencies and countries. Their
desire to be self-sustaining gives them a special affinity with
growing things, and an allotment is Taurus heaven. Graves
probably likes nothing better than digging, both literally and
metaphorically, slogging through to get a good story.

The serious, get-real planet, Saturn, plays a big role in his
horoscope and his career. It gives him a firm grasp of reality
and the facts on the ground. One of his biggest coups as a
correspondent coincided with his first 29-year Saturn cycle in
spring 1971 when he went to report the troubles in Northern
Ireland. He uncovered the name of the IRA Chief-Of-Staff - Gerry
Adams - and as a consequence, under threat, he had to return home
pronto.

Graves is not all Taurus Bull, and Mars, the old god of war, also
stands out in his horoscope. It makes him a fine war
correspondent, but on a personal level it gives him an occasional
burst of fury when he doesn't get his own way. Astrologers
Sakoian & Acker say: "Taureans have their own methods of doing
things, and if one wants a smooth relationship with them, it is
wise not to interfere with them or attempt to make them over".
(The Astrologer's Handbook).

Taureans also give the impression that they can go on for ever,
but time is slowly catching up with Keith Graves. Renowned for
stickability and possessiveness, it's usually hard to get a
Taurus to give anything up or to move on voluntarily. However,
since March, transforming Pluto has been activated in Graves'
horoscope, and even he must feel it's time for something
different. Pluto is the planet of terrorism and outrage, so it's
just as well that he is in Washington now, and not heading for
Afghanistan. He may have an instinct to lie low and go behind the
scenes for a while, and after so long in the same job, it could
be time for the ever-present Keith Graves to give himself a gap
year.